Altruistic behavior and soccer: the effect of incidental happiness on charitable giving

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of incidental happiness associated with the outcome of the Dutch national soccer championship on charitable giving shortly after the decisive match. We use survey data in which participants were asked to make an anonymous donation of an earned endowment. For estimating the causal effect of happiness on charitable giving, we exploit the variation in the emotions of fans between and within teams using two complementary empirical approaches. The first approach is based on the preference of fans for local teams. We find that individuals living closer to the city of the new champion (Amsterdam) are happier and also more likely to donate to charity than individuals living further away. Importantly, distance to Amsterdam does not impact charitable giving in a placebo sample of individuals with no interest in soccer. The second approach exploits variation between different types of fans within teams. Allegiant fans, individuals who attended a match, are happier and more likely to donate to charity than ‘stay‐home’ fans when their team wins the title. Allegiant fans are less happy and less likely to donate than ‘stay‐home’ fans when their team does not win the title. Instrumental variable estimates suggest a large effect of incidental happiness on charitable giving.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.